Energy, the Environment, and Society

Energy plays a dominant role in our modern global industrialized society. Rapid growth of human populations worldwide, combined with increases in fossil fuel related energy to support human activities have caused social, environmental, health and safety, political and economic ramifications. Damage to land, sea, and air, nuclear and oil spill disasters, global political strife, greenhouse gas emissions, species extinction and habitat degradation, and economic inflation are all associated with our need to have abundant amounts of energy in our lives. Many issues faced in the world we live in are the result of the extraction, production, transmission, distribution and consumption of energy. Energy and its negative impacts know no social, economic, cultural, racial, gender, religious, political, geographic or environmental boundaries. This course examines how our energy demands and its ramifications affect everyone on the planet. (Field trip outside of scheduled class time may be required for this course.)